Rosehip - scientific name Rosa canensis - contains a substance that might make muscles stronger, prevent muscle breakdown, stimulate the growth of cartilage in joints and rejuvenate the skin. The substance is called tiliroside. According to researchers at the Medical University of Bialystok in Poland, tiliroside boosts the effect of the anabolic hormone IGF-1.

Rosehip
You'll find a few other posts on rosehips on this website. Extracts of rosehip taken in remarkably small quantities stimulate fat loss, according to a Japanese animal study, while human studies have shown that the dried powder has a rejuvenating effect on the skin and improves the functioning of worn joints.

Tiliroside
The glycosidic flavonoid tiliroside is one of the interesting substances found in rosehips. In the animal study mentioned above, tiliroside stimulates fat burning, but the Polish study reveals another potential effect of tiliroside.

Study
The Poles exposed collagen-producing cells in test tubes to t-butyl hydroperoxide for an hour a day, for a period of 1, 3 or 5 consecutive days. Researchers use t-butyl hydroperoxide when they want to imitate the effects of oxidative stress on cells.

The researchers then repeated their experiments, but used increasing concentrations of tiliroside in the test tubes as well as t-butyl hydroperoxide.

Results
The figure below shows that the oxidative stress inhibited the uptake of marked thymidine in the DNA of the cells. This means that oxidative stress inhibits cell division, and as a result, also cell growth and vitality. Tiliroside protected the cells, however.

This is how tiliroside, the anabolic in rosehip, works

This is how tiliroside, the anabolic in rosehip, works

Oxidative stress also inhibited the uptake of marked proline in collagen structures in the cells. That means that oxidative stress inhibited the synthesis of collagen – and probably also other proteins. But, as the figure above shows, tiliroside also reduced the amount of inhibition.

The figure below shows how tiliroside maintained the cells' vitality, according to the Poles. The bigger the clot, the more IGF-1 receptors the cells synthesise.